


wanderlust

by kadaransmuggler



Category: Original Work
Genre: But i really like it, F/F, I wrote this a long time ago, M/M, there's no much to say abt this actually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2016-07-06
Packaged: 2018-07-21 23:30:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7409452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kadaransmuggler/pseuds/kadaransmuggler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>wanderlust:<br/>noun- a strong, innate desire to rove or travel about. </p><p>"After time adrift among open stars, along tides of light and through shoals of dust, I will return to where I began."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

He caught her arm when she was on her way out the door.   
  
"Where are you going, Astra?" he asked, and the breeze played with her hair, calling to her.   
  
"I don't know," she answered, a soft smile playing along the corners of her mouth. Her pack was much too full for this to be one of her mock-adventures where she crawled through the underbrush and the forest in their backyard, the sight of the horizon taunting her. She'd never been old enough to leave before, but now the wind was teasing through her hair and something in it whispered to her, drawing her out of her house and out of the familiar and into the unknown. 

"You can't just leave," he said, bewildered, but he had let go of her. He had known this day was coming, even if he hadn't been willing to admit it. They all had, really. Someone like Astra couldn't be tied down, couldn't be expected to live a normal life. That girl was destined to roam with the wind and sleep under the stars, and, well, who was he to stop her destiny? 

He had only hoped to delay her depature for as long as he could. He worried about her, after all. Even though she was a galaxy in her own right, bleeding and breathing stardust. Her eyes were full of the sight of the horizon- she was drunk on it. 

"What else would I do?" she asks, softly, her voice as sweet as sugar. He closed his eyes. He wondered how he would bear this- the heavy feeling that settled deep into the pit of his stomach. He only knew he would have to endure. 

"Be careful," is all he says, and Astra gives him a brilliant and blinding smile over her shoulder before she is gone, disappearing into the horizon. He watches her until she is swallowed whole by the distance. 

The breeze brought dust swirling around her, the chill from the night was not yet gone, but the edge of the world teased her, calling to something deep and primal within her. And so Astra answered the call. 

* * *

 

Somewhere along the road, in between towns, she met a boy. His name was Eedan, and he was answering the same call of the horizon that she was. Neither knew where they were going, but they both knew the road was better traveled with a friend, so they agreed to go together. 

Perhaps there should have been a short period of distrust, where they each slept with one eye open and watching the other because the world was a dark and dangerous place, and men's hearts held something darker than anything else. But Astra couldn't bring herself to dislike him, and he could not dislike her, and so they found how they fit together. 

* * *

 

At night, they would sit beside the fire, and they would tell stories. Astra told stories about the stars, about where her name came from, and Eedan would tell stories about the fires in the forge he'd grown up beside, about how his namesake came from the flames. 

Despite the fact that Astra was finally traveling, there was still something more that she hungered for. The hunger would cause her to wake in the middle of the night sometimes, and slip out of the tent to stare up at the stars and trace constellations with the tip of her finger. When she fell asleep out there, Eedan would cover her with a blanket and and sit beside her, staring into the fire. 

They passed through towns they didn't bother to learn the names of. Sometimes, they'd stop and stay in an inn long enough to scrub the dust of the road off of their skin and out of their hair, and then they were off again. Other times, they'd stop at some of the fancy restaurants in the nicer towns and eat a decent meal after weeks of nothing but bland, flavorless stews and hard bread. Often, they would spend days in these cities, restocking their supplies. When their money ran low, they'd stay even longer, doing whatever odd jobs they could scavenge up and building their supply back up.   
  
Always, they traveled ever onward into the distance, stardust and fire trailing behind them.


	2. Chapter 2

Eedan was the first of the pair to fall sick. Neither could figure out what had made him so ill so quickly, but they had to set up camp and stay for quite awhile. Astra thanked whatever gods she could think of that it happened so close to a city, a sprawling metropolis that had plenty of supplies. Astra never left his side as she played healer, nursing him back to health slowly. For awhile, he lingered on the brink of death, and Astra swore and threatened and cajoled and pleaded. The next morning, his fever had broken, and she nearly wept. She curled up next to his side, and the two of them slept until he recovered. 

He was still weak, even after he'd recovered. He couldn't travel as fast or for as long, and Astra started to insist that they stay awhile longer, perhaps in the city proper. He insisted that he was fine to leave behind the confines of the tent for a few days of travel on the open road- the next town was close, after all. She relented, with the condition that they buy a wagon and a horse. 

Astra hovered closer to Eedan than ever before, lingering protectively. Laughingly, he tried to shake her off, but her determination won out in the end. He allowed her to worry over him, and when they set up a smaller camp that night, he pressed a kiss to her lips as she prepared dinner. They were both startled, and they ended up laughing it off over their meal. Astra had, at least, gotten better at cooking, and now knew how to use proper spices. 

* * *

 

Astra eventually bought two horses, forgoing the wagon all together. Riding was easier than walking, and they were both just glad to be moving once more. Time passed, moving from spring through summer and now to fall, and Eedan began to form an attachment to the beast. His horse was tempermental and stubborn, but so was his other traveling companion. He named it Horse, and spoke to it in a gruff voice that didn't hide his fondness. 

* * *

 

In the next big city they came to, they met a girl. Her name was Vanora, and she smelled like the sea and her eyes were a deep blue, and when she asked to join them, Astra couldn't say no. Her hair was blonde and long, and when she got tired of it getting tangled all the time, she convinced Astra to cut it for her. Astra was careful and gentle, and Vanora's eyes were bright and wide and innocent, and at night sometimes Eedan would catch Astra sneaking soft and longing look towards Vanora. 

Where Astra loved the stars and Eedan loved fire, Vanora loved the sea. Sometimes, she would talk about how the waves crashed onto the shore in a spray of foam, how the shallow water was safe and beautiful and how the deep water was dark and alluring and dangerous. Her eyes lit up when she talked about it, and it was only a few days before Astra and Eedan decided they wanted to see the sea, too. 


	3. Chapter 3

Eedan thought the ocean was more awe-inspiring than Vanora had made it out to be. He did, however, notice that Astra spent more time staring at the new girl with tanned skin and sun-bleached hair than at the roiling waves before them. Young love, he decided, was awkward and beautiful, and he was glad that he was able to watch it unfold, despite not having any particular desire to experience it for himself.   
  
They stayed on the coast for a long time, long enough for Eedan to tan. Fall passed into winter, and winter turned into spring. Astra was thinking about building a house for the three of them, something small and easy to maintain so they could always return home.   
  
The beach was warm on the days it didn't rain. Eedan thought that he would like to make a home there. He could open a forge when he was old and tired of traveling.   
  
They left again in the summer, when the heat was too much. Astra hadn't gotten around to building that house yet, but she was so disgustingly in love with Vanora that Eedan teased her constantly about it. She'd roll her eyes and elbow him gently before turning around a pressing a kiss to the blonde girl's lips or temple or cheek.

* * *

Astra wanted to return home. Not for long, not to stay, but she wanted to show Vanora and Eedan the places she had grown up, so they set about traveling the long way back.

Astra's father was older than she remembered. He was happy to see her, and happy that she was happy, but there was a bittersweet tone to their entire interaction.

"Can't you settle down here, with her?" he asked, almost pleading.

 "I don't think I'm done traveling, Papa," Astra says, her voice soft and distressed. 

"If you get married, make sure it's here. I'm still your father," he says, and his voice is gruff. 

They get married later that week. 

They leave by the end of the month. 

* * *

 

They travel for another year, all three of them, before Eedan finds a nice little town with a nice boy and a good forge in need of a smith. He is not too far from the sea. 

* * *

 

Vanora and Astra travel for a long while yet. They visit a lot of new places and a lot of old places, and eventually Astra and Vanora settle down in a small little house next to Eedan's. They make frequent visits to the coast and yearly visits to Astra's father.   
  
Astra still feels the call of the horizon, but she is more comfortable now than she is heeding the call. 

She's glad to be home.


End file.
